HP Announces Multimedia and Gaming Powerhouse PCs

The company has unveiled two powerful new desktop PCs, and a high-performance multimedia monitor to match.

HP has announced two new high-end desktop PC systems and one new multimedia-oriented monitor. The new PCs include the HP Blackbird 002, a joint venture between HP and its recently acquired Voodoo PC gaming division. There's also a new high-end multimedia PC in the HP Pavilion Elite m900n series, and the multimedia-oriented HP w2408 24-inch widescreen LCD monitor.

The HP Blackbird 002 is an overclocked gaming PC built into a sculpted aluminum chassis, and is the newest addition to "The $5K Club" with price tags in the $5,000 range, depending on your configuration. For more on the Blackbird 002, check out my full hands-on review.

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The second PC introduced today is the HP Pavilion Elite m9000n series high-end multimedia PCs. The first system, a Pavilion Elite m9040n, comes with a quad-core Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor, NTSC/ATSC (HDTV) tuner, 3GB of system memory and 640GB of speedy hard drive space. The m9040n includes bays for both of HP's removable hard drive technologies, the aptly named HP Pocket Media Drive and the larger, higher capacity HP Personal Media Drive. While having both may be overkill for some, early adopters and removable hard drive fans will enjoy this option.

HP's w2408 widescreen monitor is the company's answer to mid-to-high-end 24-inch widescreen monitors like Gateway's FPD2485W and Dell's 2407WFP. The w2408 is a 1,920-by-1,200, 16:10 widescreen like the others, and pivots from portrait to landscape mode, so you can read vertically and horizontally optimized programs or Web pages. The w2408 is HDCP compliant, so you can watch HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs on your PC. Notable innovations include a keyboard storage area under the monitor, and rear-firing speakers (the competition requires external speakers or a speaker bar).

Joel Santo Domingo is the Lead Analyst for the Desktops team at PC Magazine Labs. He joined PC Magazine in 2000, after 7 years of IT work for companies large and small. His background includes managing mobile, desktop and network infrastructure on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Joel is proof that you can escape the retail grind: he wore a yellow polo shirt early in his tech career. Along the way Joel earned a BA in English Literature and an MBA in Information Technology...
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